Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

In April 2016, something happened at Facebook that would quickly result in a revolutionary paradigm shift on the horizon of online communication -- from mobile to desktop, marketing to services, personal to corporate -- everything, really.

Messenger opened its doors to developers with an invitation to create chatbots -- something of which roughly 78% of online adults were unaware. Within six months, developers had created about 30,000 active Messenger bots. Today, less than a year later, that number is up 233%, with 100,000 active bots on the platform. 

But it’s not just a popular, funky thing to do. Businesses using chatbots are seeing results, like Sephora, which reportedly earns “an average spend of over $50 from clients who have booked an in-store service via its Messenger assistant,” according to VentureBeat....

Since Facebook and Kik debuted their chatbot channels last year, thousands of bots have been built by brands, media companies and developers on the platforms, with more expected in 2017. (Just last week, Facebook unveiled its Messenger 2.0, with brands like Subway, Aeromexico and Food Network coming onboard.)

However, while bots might seem like just another extension on social media, there is still a lot to figure out in terms of performance and measurement. And just like the early days of social media, understanding what clicks and what doesn’t is still a work in progress.

“When we were creating chatbots and thinking about it as a new medium, we wanted to go back to the drawing board to assess how these things should be measured,” said Kik product manager Laura Newton. “Although bots are still a niche product and aren’t super widespread, they cover a vast variety of use cases and we think they need to be treated different.”...

In this episode, I interview Ben Beck, a bot expert who writes a weekly column for ClearVoice.com. He has an online course focused on generating leads with chatbots.

Ben explores what you need to know to get started with chatbots. You’ll discover the best tools for creating chatbots....